


Something to Live For part 21

by Phsbarbie



Series: Something to Live For [21]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2014-09-19
Packaged: 2018-02-18 00:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2328377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phsbarbie/pseuds/Phsbarbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard finally sees her dress, and Kaidan asks if she's going to change her last name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something to Live For part 21

I wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee in our bedroom and Kaidan's kiss on my cheek. 

"Wake up, sleepy head," he says, setting a coffee cup down on my nightstand. I groan and burrow deeper beneath the covers. The sound of Kaidan's baritone laughter makes me shiver as I try to ignore him. I'm not much of a morning person, but I am still tempted to pull him back into bed with me. "Oh come on, it's not that bad. I even made you coffee."

I peek my head out from under the covers, taking him in from head to toe. "Why are you already dressed?"

"I'm on my way to the tailor, remember?" He checks his watch. "And your bridal party should be here any minute, so unless you want Jack in here jumping on the bed, you should get up."

"Too late," says a voice from the doorway. "I'd stand clear if I were you, Kaidan."

He gives me a quick kiss and steps away from the bed with a grin. "She's all yours."

Jack takes a running start before cannon balling into the center of the bed. She sits up cross legged and reaches for my coffee.

"Hey!" I complain, trying to take it back from her. "That was a precious gift from my fiance."

She shrugs. "Remind me to thank him for it." I sigh. "Besides," she continues, "if you had gotten out of bed it would still be yours."

She has a point. I swing my feet off the side of the bed and stretch. "Is everybody else here or are you just early?"

"They're all here," she says, taking another sip of my coffee. "Oh and Annie and Tali are along for the ride." She snorts. "They were all too big of pussies to come get you out of bed." 

I chuckle under my breath. Only Jack. I head to my closet, slipping on a tank and some yoga pants and pulling my hair back into a loose bun. Very casual, but since today is the day I'm trying on my wedding dress I figure I should stay comfortable for as long as possible. Who knows what that designer dreamed up for me? Speaking of which...

"Any sign of Pierre yet?" I ask over my shoulder.

"Nope," says Jack, climbing off my bed and heading for the door. "Thanks for the coffee."

I roll my eyes. At least she's taking the mug back downstairs. I follow after her a few minutes later, glad to see everyone made themselves comfortable in the living room. Liara starts to speak but I hold up a hand to stop her.

"Jack drank my coffee," I explain, still headed to the kitchen. I pour myself a mug then head back into the living room, settling into the couch with a sigh of satisfaction. 

Annie laughs. "You and my son are obviously meant to be."

"As if that was ever a question," says Tali with a smile in her voice. I've barely seen her at all in the week she's been back. She and Garrus have spent it holed up somewhere, fixing their relationship. If the vibes I'm getting from her are anything to go by it's going well. "Even back on the first Normandy you could tell they belonged together. The looks Kaidan gave her when he was sure she wasn't looking, all those 'just checking in' chats Shepard had with him. Keelah, it was exasperating." 

Liara starts to laugh. "I remember that. I had a bet going with Wrex about how long it was going to take Kaidan to end up in your cabin."

I smile over the top of my coffee. "Who won?"

"Wrex, of course."

"So, Annie," says Traynor, changing the subject, "how did you convince Mr. Olivier to come to us this time?"

"Actually it was his idea," she says, sounding somewhat surprised. "Apparently word got out that he was doing Angel's dress and the press has been camped out on his doorstep. He didn't want you to have to wade through that, or for some nosy reporter to get a peek at your dress, so he's bringing the fittings to you." My doorbell rings. "And that should be him now." Annie gets up to answer the door but I shoo her back to her seat.

"I got it," I tell her, heading for the door. "I've had enough caffeine to be a human being again." I check the vid screen to find the designer standing in the hallway with a large white box in his hands. He's brought two assistants with him who are obviously carrying the bridesmaids dresses and he's grinning at the door expectantly. 

No sooner do I open it with a smile of my own than he's stepping past me into the apartment. It almost seems like he's more excited about this than I am. Check that, he's almost more excited than Traynor, he's definitely more excited than me. To be honest, I've been dreading this day and I can't even explain why.

It's not that I'm having second thoughts because I can't wait to be married to Kaidan. I like my designer too, he's eccentric but friendly. Some people might think it's because it's a formal gown and since I'm a bad ass space diva(as Miranda would say) I can't enjoy dressing up. Those people would be wrong too. I really can't explain it.

"Over there girls," says Pierre, directing his assistants to the living room. I expect him to follow them over but instead he turns to me. "Commander Shepard, do you have a room that's a bit more out of the way?"

My brow crinkles in confusion but I nod. I lead him to the back room next to the kitchen, home to our poker table, my desk, and a second bar. Pierre looks around and gives it a nod of approval. 

"Very nice, Commander. I assumed an apartment as spacious as this would have such a place. Please, sit." He gestures towards the recliners on our right. No hardship there, I love these things. I've barely sat down when he places the white box gently on my lap. "This, as I'm sure you could guess, is your wedding dress. I think perhaps the bride deserves to see it first, alone. Thought I must warn you," he says with a wink, "you're going to fall in love with it the moment you see it." He pats my hand and heads back out to the living room, I'm guessing to help with the bridesmaids dresses.

I'm not sure how long I sit there like that, staring down at the unopened box containing my wedding dress on my lap, but I know it's awhile. I don't know what's wrong with me. Every little girl dreams of her wedding dress, myself included. I remember growing up back on Mindoir, playing dress up in my mother's clothes...

And that's when it hits me, why I've been dreading this. This is something that should be shared with your mother. And I don't have one. Tears flood my eyes and I blink them back determinedly. She wouldn't want this. She'd want me to be happy and excited, not mourning her. But I can't help feeling a sense of loss that she's not here to share this with me.

"Angel?" comes a soft voice from the doorway. "Are you okay?"

I paste a smile on my face, hoping it covers the tears, and look up at Annie. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

One side of her mouth turns up in an amused smile. "Because you've been sitting in here alone for nearly an hour and it doesn't look like you've even opened your dress."

I laugh softly. "Those are pretty good reasons."

Annie sits down in the chair next to me. "You know, while I was sitting out there watching the girls try on those beautiful dresses I realized I haven't really been playing my role as mother of the groom, I've been hijacking your wedding like I'm mother of the bride."

I give a genuine chuckle. "Without your 'hijacking' the two of us would have ended up in front of a judge with clean uniforms on. Believe me when I say I appreciate all you've done."

"I'm glad you said that Angel because, if you'll let me, I'd like to do one last mother of the bride thing. I'd love to be with you when you open your dress."

My heart has never been fuller than it is at this moment. Tears prick my eyes and I nod. "I'd like that Annie." I may have lost my mother years ago but Kaidan has given me yet another gift: his own. 

So together we remove the top of the box and see my dress for the first time. Pierre warned me I would fall in love. That was an understatement. 

 

I open the door to our blissfully quiet apartment with a sigh. Who knew tuxedo fittings would be such a pain in the ass?

"Shepard, you here?" I call.

"In the kitchen!" she yells back. Perfect. Right where the beer is. She's chopping up vegetables for what looks like a stir fry and I give her a quick kiss on my way to the fridge. I take a long drink of my beer before putting it down on the counter next to her and wrapping my arms around her waist. 

"That looks pretty good. Are you finally going to prove you can cook?"

"Actually," she says, too sweetly, "I'm just doing the prep work so you can make me stir fry for dinner." I laugh and she smiles. "So, explain to me why it took so much longer for you guys to try on tuxes than it did for all of us to have our dresses altered?"

I groan. "It was a nightmare. I specifically chose a shop that advertised serving all species. I figured we'd be in and out in around three hours, maybe even be back in time to catch a glimpse of you in your wedding dress." She scoffs and I smile. She makes my bad days better.

"Liara would've blocked the door with a singularity before you took a step inside. Besides, there was no way you were going to make it back within three hours. It doesn't matter what an ad says, you bring in as many different species as we've got as you're going to have to wait awhile. I mean, Krogan? Turian? Prothean? And all in traditional Earthen formal wear. That's a tall order."

I sigh heavily, as if her doubt in me physically pains me. "Oh ye of little faith," I say, pressing a kiss behind her ear and moving beside her. I reach for the beef and start slicing it into strips, figuring the sooner I can cook the sooner I can eat. "I called ahead of time and specified what I needed. They even said they could get something put together for Javik."

"So then what went wrong?" she asks, finishing with the carrots and hopping onto the counter. She's come a long way from complaining about watching me cook. 

I give a half hearted chuckle. "What didn't go wrong? We showed up to find none of the tuxes were ready, not even the human ones. And you know how Wrex gets when he has to wait."

"Yeah, last time I asked him to wait somewhere he took over Cortez's shuttle and bombed Cerberus." 

I smile. "Luckily nothing so drastic happened here. Anyway, half and hour goes by and I realize I'm going to be late for my appointment with the military tailor, since I'm getting those new medals sewn on before the wedding, you know?" She nods and pops a vegetable in her mouth. I finish with the beef and coat a pan with oil, letting it heat over the stove. "Well, they promise they're literally minutes away from fixing this whole thing and Joker promises he can handle it. So off I go to get my blues perfected." I pause my story to test the pan and add the first ingredients.

Angel laughs. "You do realize nobody looks at the groom during a wedding."

"You will be," I say, giving her a quick smile. "All eyes will be on you, but your eyes will be on me. And your eyes are the most important."

Her eyes soften and her lips turn up sweetly at the edges. "That is a fantastic reason."

"Anyway, an hour later I go back to find everything is very much not under control. They've got most of the guys dressed, but the tuxes don't match each other and the accents are in the wrong color. Do you have any idea who much crap I would take from my mother if my side of the wedding was wearing the wrong color?"

Shepard laughs. "You would get quite the lecture."

"Well luckily, though it took all day, it's finally and completely done." Shepard bites her bottom lip guiltily and I groan. "What?"

"Well, Liara had a hunch Tali might be back in time for the wedding, so she gave Pierre her measurements. It was a surprise for me today. Pierre made Tali and exosuit that matches the bridesmaid dresses so she can be in the wedding too. Which is fantastic," she hurries along, "but that would mean an uneven amount of bridesmaids and groomsmen, so..." she trails off but doesn't have to finish. I know what's coming next. 

I sigh. "So I'm taking Grunt to get a tuxedo tomorrow."

She's trying to hide a smile. "Pretty much, yeah." She slips off the counter and grabs some plates out of the cupboard. "How about we eat on the couch tonight?"

These are the times I try to lock into my memory, when we're sitting on the couch eating a meal Shepard somehow got out of cooking again. The normal, mundane things because we all know in another month and a half we're going to be back to living on a warship hurtling through space and hunting down threats to galactic civilization. So I enjoy the little things while I can.

We finish our dinner and cuddle up on the couch, watching the fire dance in the fireplace. I run my fingers through her hair and wonder at the fact that two weeks from today we'll be married. She'll be Mrs. Angel... and then it hits me. She'll be Mrs. Angel what?

"Angel?"

"Hmm?" she asks lazily.

"Are you going to change your name?"

There's a bit of a pause before she untangles herself from my arms and sits up to look at me. "I haven't decided yet."

I try to keep my face neutral and nod but she gives me a look that says she sees right through me. She knows me too well. "What?" I ask, trying to seem innocent.

I would have to describe the look on her face as amused. "Do you want to start or should I?"

"Please, ladies first."

"Shepard is more my name than Angel is. It's all anyone knows me by. What are they supposed to call me, 'Alenko?' Then what would they call you?"

I knew she would use this argument. I've already got my rebuttal formed. "Nobody has to change what they call you, I know I won't. You were promoted to Captain recently but people still call you Commander. It doesn't have to change your day to day life at all."

She considers this inwardly for a moment before turning her attention back to me. "Your turn."

"I'm an only child. Who else can carry on my family name?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Who will carry on mine?"

I scoff. "Oh come on. You just saved the galaxy. Half the babies of every species born in the next year will be names Shepard."

"You could just as easily change your name to Shepard as I could to Alenko," she says, moving right on to her next point.

"It would kill my mother." She rolls her eyes. My final point... "It may be primitive of me, but I want to see my last name attached to you. To say look, that amazing woman belongs to me and I belong to her."

Shepard sighs. "I've really got to think about it some more."

I nod. "That's fair."

The smile is back on her face. "In the meantime I was thinking of taking a dip in the Jacuzzi. Care to join me?"

Her smile must be contagious since it spreads across my face. "I'd love to. Give me ten minutes to do that dishes and I'll meet you there."

She heads upstairs and I clean up as quickly as possible. I head up behind her, undressing along the way, eager to soak away the day's stress but stop short when I enter the bathroom. In the steam on the mirror, written in Shepard's neat handwriting, it says "Mrs. Angel Shepard-Alenko."

"Do you like it?"

I all but jump into the hot tub and pull her into my arms. "Yes, I do."

"I love you, Kaidan."

"I love you, too."

I'm sure you can imagine what happens next.


End file.
